


Rain and Singing

by dragoninatrenchcoat



Category: Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson, Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cosmere Tumblr RP, Dalinavani, F/M, Kharbranth University, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-20 15:26:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4792673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragoninatrenchcoat/pseuds/dragoninatrenchcoat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Navani discovers a hidden talent of Dalinar's while they cuddle and listen to the rain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rain and Singing

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in the [Cosmere Tumblr RP](http://cosmererp.tumblr.com).

“Never?” Navani asked him. “Not once?”

Dalinar shook his head. “Singing is a woman’s art, Navani.”

The two of them reclined together on a soft couch in the basement of the Engineering building, half-lit by dimly glowing spheres. It was Navani’s favorite spot, and there was a comfort in being here in the relative darkness while hearing the rain patter outside. Highstorms simply didn’t happen here, so sheltering from the rain–which could sound almost like a highstorm, when the winds buffeted strongly enough–was almost like being home.

“Even so, men sing, Dalinar. Everyone sings.”

“Not me, Navani.”

“Not  _once?_  I’m sure  _shshsh_  said to me…”

Dalinar tuned out her words for a few moments, listening to the rain against the faraway windows, the tiny little individual  _pitterpitters_  that usually denoted the tail-end of a highstorm. Here, however, the rain could be minutes or hours from letting up.

“That was a long time ago,” Dalinar said when he felt she had finished speaking. Had he once sung for his late wife? If he had, he couldn’t remember it.

“It’s just the two of us,” Navani pointed out, running her freehand just under his jacket, her head leaning so comfortably on his shoulder, his right arm wrapped around her back, their legs intertwined on the far side of the couch. Their bodies shared a warmth between them strong enough to stave away the chill threatening to seep in through the windows and cold stone walls. She hadn’t been able to convince Dalinar to sit so close to her until she’d locked the door.

“Even if I wanted to sing, which I do not,” he reminded her, “I don’t know any songs.”

“Of course you do,” she assured him, her voice purring into his chest, her fingers idly twiddling with a button on his jacket. “I’m certain I can think of one you know front to back. You’ve heard them all enough.”

“Hearing is not the same as singing.”

“It is, actually,” Navani countered, and he could hear the smile in her voice. He nosed into her hair a little, taking in her scent, running his hand lightly over her side. “I don’t know if you knew this,” she continued, “but all people can sing with little to no practice. It’s a gift from the Almighty.”

“I thought the Almighty was dead.”

“One doesn’t need to be alive to have given gifts, Dalinar.” She shifted, looking up at him, leaning her head back a little farther against his shoulder so that she spoke roughly to his cheek. “Don’t engage me in debate just to avoid singing for me.”

“Someone will hear me,” he protested softly, feeling her breath on his skin.

“It’s the weekend, the door is locked, it’s raining,” she reminded him, the corner of her mouth pulling back. “Stop making excuses.”

Dalinar closed his mouth and listened to the rain. He couldn’t think of any more arguments.

“I’ll get you started,” she suggested. “When you feel you remember the words, start singing along with me. Don’t listen to how you sound, just sing with me.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but she started singing, cutting him off.

Navani’s voice was beautiful. He realized in that moment he had never actually heard her sing before, and what a disservice that was. He could sit here for hours doing nothing but listening to her full, sweet, genuine, lovely voice.

She nudged him, smiling as she sang, and he realized he did in fact know the song. It was one of the ones the Terra students sang, often in groups, the sort of song that drew chills up the spine. It sounded difficult. Navani wanted him to sing  _this?_

But her smile was disarming and encouraging, and the rain offered to cover up his voice… so he gave it a shot.

As they sang together, their voices matching perfectly in the slow song and the comfortable room, Dalinar began to feel more confident about his singing, and about this song in particular. The song itself was moving, and he found himself getting caught up in it, in the notes, in the way the tune flowed through his voice so naturally–he was listening to himself and to the rain, and he hardly noticed when Navani’s voice quietly faded from the song and he was singing on his own, just him and the rain and Navani’s soft breaths against his cheek.

Rather than get caught up in propriety, Dalinar let Navani’s presence lull him off into the song itself. He kept singing, becoming bolder as the song went on, letting his voice fill the stone basement with the slow, rolling melody of the Terra classic, until he finally tapered off into the last note.

It was quiet for a few moments, just the two of them and the rain, until he heard the softest whisper down by his chin.

 _“Storms,”_ Navani breathed.

He turned his head to ask what she meant, but she suddenly pulled herself closer to him and kissed him fully on the lips.

They melted into one another, just the two of them, the rain, and the memory of floating, crystalline passionspren.

**Author's Note:**

> [The voice Navani hears.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UajFxvB-y5Q)


End file.
